Perlan II Project Aims To Fly a Glider To the Edge of Space

Zothecula writes: In an ambitious attempt to break every wing-borne sustained flight height record for a manned aircraft, the Perlan ll project intends to construct and fly a glider higher than any sailplane has gone before. Riding on the colossal stratospheric air waves generated over mountains, the team plans to fly their craft to more than 90,000 ft (27,000 m), which will shatter their own existing glider altitude record of 50,671 ft (15,400 m) set by Perlan l in 2008.

Comments

100km

[Anonymous Coward]

At 27km up, you're closer to ground than to the edge of space. Stop sensationalizing.

Re:100km

[dreamchaser]

That was my first thought as well. Don't get me wrong, it will be an impressive feat, but it's nowhere near 'the edge of space'. I haven't done the math or looked it up but one would probably see the curvature of the Earth more noticeably than at sea level, but still, the title of this entry is complete sensationalism.

Re:100km

[pushing-robot]

I'll give them this one, considering one of the purposes of this project is to prove the feasability of extraterrrestrial flight in atmospheres as thin as that of Mars.

Re: 100km

[calidoscope]

Something on the order of 97% of the atmosphere's mass is below 90,000'. 100km is an arbitrary value for the start of space, as the air at 100km is too thick to orbit and too thin to fly in (except dynamic soaring?). In imperial units, 100,000' seems to be the upper limit for flying and 100 miles is about the lower limit for orbiting.

The Perlan II sounds like it will handle like an unpowered U2 - where the planes ceiling will be defined by the "coffin corner" were the low speed stall (classic stall) approaches the high speed stall (Mach tuck from transonic airflow). Perhaps they will be using a more refined airfoil than the U2 to increase the Mach number for high speed stall.

IIRC, the pre-Perlan I sailplane altitude record of approx 47,000 feet was set sometime in the 1960's, surprising it took that long for someone to break that.

Re:100km

[w0mprat]

At 27km up, you're closer to ground than to the edge of space. Stop sensationalizing.

At 27km up your above 98% of the atmosphere if you go by density. It's not sensationalizing at all.

Re:100km

[jklovanc]

The Kármán line, or Karman line, lies at an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 mi) above the Earth's sea level, and commonly represents the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. This definition is accepted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), which is an international standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. By saing "edge of space" and then "90,000ft" (27.4km) they are making a mockery of the "Edge of space". When has 27.4% towards a goal ever been "close" to a goal? They further exagerate using this artist's rendering. The curvature of the earth would be much less. Here is an actual photo taken at 90,000ft.

In the end 27.4kM is not close to 100km and therefore not close to the edge of space. Sorry but you can't re-define something that has been internationally agreed upon to make your aircraft look better.

Re:100km

[Concerned Onlooker]

Self-penalty: no posting to Slashdot for at least two weeks.

Re:glide into the edge

[ihtoit]

sorry, didn't you get the memo? They changed the name to put that tired old joke to rest once and for all.

It's now "Urectum".

Re:Stop this nonsense.

[aix tom]

Yeah!!! If God had wanted us to fly, he would have given us first class tickets!!